Nader's book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," in which he condemned the Corvair, became a bestseller. Nader became a celebrity icon, which in turn led him to run for president in 2000, siphoning off enough Florida votes to put George W. Bush in the White House.

If President Bush ever had a friend in high places, it was Roche, little though he knew it in 1966. Roche and his Corvair turned Nader into a liability for the very liberals who admired him. The result has been two lost wars, a gutted economy and a wellspring of Middle East hatred for the U.S.